So I just opened my email to find a blackmail/scam email from someone demanding $3000 in Bitcoin. I suspect this is just someone trying their luck, but there are a few worrying things. Here are the key details:
*The scammer doesn't seem to know my actual name, but he clearly does have my username, password and email address. It's not the username I use here. In fact I can't remember where it's from because it's not one I use often, although I have used it in the past. And I have used the password before as well.
*The scam is basically that they supposedly installed some malware via a porn video I watched/downloaded (the language they use is quite vague) which supposedly granted them remote desktop access and access to my webcam, and installed a keylogger. The email says they're going to send a video of my webcam and me watching porn to all my contacts unless I pay within 24 hours blah, blah, blah... I would suspect this is ******** anyway, but I don't even have a webcam and I haven't downloaded any porn in probably a decade. Not gonna like I do occasionally go to Pornhub though
Anyway, I'm posting this here mainly just to ask for advice. I'm using my other half's laptop to type this, and I'm gonna use it to change my personal and work email, Facebook, Twitter, online banking and any other passwords I can think of. I've also ran a scan on my laptop using Windows Defender, but I'm wondering if there's anything else it would be wise to do? Any advice?
I suspect this is just some **** who got access to some ancient forum's email database and is sending out these emails on a mass basis, but obviously I want to be cautious. Should I be scanning for spyware with Spybot or something like that? I've been lucky with viruses/malware in that I haven't had any problems in years, so a bit out of the loop.
*The scammer doesn't seem to know my actual name, but he clearly does have my username, password and email address. It's not the username I use here. In fact I can't remember where it's from because it's not one I use often, although I have used it in the past. And I have used the password before as well.
*The scam is basically that they supposedly installed some malware via a porn video I watched/downloaded (the language they use is quite vague) which supposedly granted them remote desktop access and access to my webcam, and installed a keylogger. The email says they're going to send a video of my webcam and me watching porn to all my contacts unless I pay within 24 hours blah, blah, blah... I would suspect this is ******** anyway, but I don't even have a webcam and I haven't downloaded any porn in probably a decade. Not gonna like I do occasionally go to Pornhub though
Anyway, I'm posting this here mainly just to ask for advice. I'm using my other half's laptop to type this, and I'm gonna use it to change my personal and work email, Facebook, Twitter, online banking and any other passwords I can think of. I've also ran a scan on my laptop using Windows Defender, but I'm wondering if there's anything else it would be wise to do? Any advice?
I suspect this is just some **** who got access to some ancient forum's email database and is sending out these emails on a mass basis, but obviously I want to be cautious. Should I be scanning for spyware with Spybot or something like that? I've been lucky with viruses/malware in that I haven't had any problems in years, so a bit out of the loop.